different between herb vs moss

English

Etymology

From Middle English erbe, from Old French erbe (French herbe), from Latin herba. Initial h was restored to the spelling in the 15th century on the basis on Latin, but it remained mute until the 19th century and still is for many speakers.

Pronunciation

• (UK, General Australian, General New Zealand) enPR: hû(r)b, IPA^(key): /h??b/
• (US, Canada) enPR: (h)ûrb, IPA^(key): /(h)?b/
• North American pronunciation of the word varies; some speakers include the h-sound and others omit it, with the h-less pronunciation being the more common. Individual speakers are usually consistent in their choice, but the choice does not appear to be correlated with any regional, socioeconomic, or educational distinctions.
• Outside of North America, the h-less pronunciation is restricted to speakers who have a general tendency to "drop the h" in all words.
• Rhymes: -??(?)b
• Homophone: Herb (for the pronunciation /h??(?)b/)

Noun

herb (countable and uncountable, plural herbs)

1. (countable) Any green, leafy plant, or parts thereof, used to flavour or season food.
2. (countable) A plant whose roots, leaves or seeds, etc. are used in medicine.

3. (uncountable, slang) Cannabis.

   Synonyms: grass, weed; see also Thesaurus:marijuana
4. (countable, botany) A plant whose stem is not woody and does not persist beyond each growing season
5. (uncountable, obsolete) Grass; herbage.

Hyponyms

• See also Thesaurus:seasoning

Related terms

Translations

Anagrams

• Behr, Hebr., breh, hreb

German

Etymology

From Middle High German hare, here (inflected harwe, herwe), from Old High German *haro, from Proto-West Germanic *haru.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /h?rp/, [h???p], [h??p]

Adjective

herb (comparative herber, superlative am herbsten)

1. (of food and drink, e.g. beer) slightly bitter or sharp to the taste, often in a pleasant way; tart (but not in the sense of “sour”)
2. (figuratively, chiefly of events or deeds) harsh; hard

Declension

Derived terms

• Herbheit

Further reading

• “herb” in Duden online

Polish

Etymology

From Old Czech herb, from Middle High German erbe (“heritage”). Compare German Erbe.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /x?rp/

Noun

herb m inan

1. (heraldry) coat of arms
2. (heraldry) armigerous clan; cf. Polish heraldry

Declension

Descendants

• Russian: ???? (gerb)
  • Latvian: ?erbonis
• Yiddish: ????? (herb)

Zazaki

Alternative forms

• herf

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /herb/

Noun

herb

1. (dated) war

Synonyms

• lec
• lej

English

Etymology

From Middle English mos, from Old English mos (“bog, marsh, moss”), from Proto-West Germanic *mos (“marsh, moss”), from Proto-Germanic *mus? (“marsh, moss”), from Proto-Indo-European *mews- (“moss”).

Cognate with Saterland Frisian Moas (“moss”), West Frisian moas (“moss”), Dutch mos (“moss”), German Low German Moss (“moss”), German Moos (“moss”), Danish mos (“moss”), Swedish mossa (“moss”), Icelandic mosi (“moss”), Latin muscus (“moss”), Russian ??? (mox, “moss”), Polish mech. Doublet of mousse.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /m?s/
• (US) enPR: môs, IPA^(key): /m?s/
• (cot–caught merger, Canada) enPR: mäs, IPA^(key): /m?s/
• Rhymes: -?s
• Rhymes: -??s

Noun

moss (countable and uncountable, plural mosses)

1. Any of various small, green, seedless plants growing on the ground or on the surfaces of trees, stones, etc.; now specifically, a plant of the phylum Bryophyta (formerly division Musci).

   Hypernym: bryophyte

2. (countable) A kind or species of such plants.
3. (informal) Any alga, lichen, bryophyte, or other plant of seemingly simple structure.

   Hyponyms: alga, cryptogam, lichen

4. (now chiefly Britain regional) A bog; a fen.

Usage notes

• The plural form mosses is used when more than one kind of moss is meant. The singular moss is used referring to a collection of moss plants of the same kind.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

moss (third-person singular simple present mosses, present participle mossing, simple past and past participle mossed)

1. (intransitive) To become covered with moss.

2. (transitive) To cover (something) with moss.

Translations

See also

• muscoid

Further reading

• moss on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

References

• A New English dictionary on historical principles, Volume 6, Sir James Augustus Henry Murray, Sir William Alexander Craigie, Charles Talbut Onions, editors, Clarendon Press, 1908, pages 684-6

Anagrams

• SMOS, SMOs, soms

Hungarian

Alternative forms

• mossál

Etymology

mos +? -j

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?mo??]
• Hyphenation: moss
• Rhymes: -o??

Verb

moss

1. second-person singular subjunctive present indefinite of mos

Usage notes

Not to be confused with mos (“to wash”).